U.S. patent number 8,545,271 [Application Number 13/394,580] was granted by the patent office on 2013-10-01 for wiring apparatus.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Yazaki Corporation. The grantee listed for this patent is Fumitoshi Henmi. Invention is credited to Fumitoshi Henmi.
United States Patent |
8,545,271 |
Henmi |
October 1, 2013 |
Wiring apparatus
Abstract
A wiring apparatus includes a wire housing portion, terminal
housing chambers and wire extracting portions. The wire housing
portion is provided with a plurality of elongated housing grooves
that respectively house wires therein and are disposed in parallel
to each other, each of the grooves is divided at one or more
portions by groove(s), and side walls and are coupled by a U-shaped
elastic coupling member. Each terminal housing chamber houses a
conductive metal plate for coupling the terminal of the battery and
the terminal of the adjacent battery and couples adjacent terminal
housing chambers and by a U-shaped elastic coupling member. Each of
the wire extracting portions couples a wire housing groove and the
terminal housing chamber to thereby extract the wire to the wire
housing groove.
Inventors: |
Henmi; Fumitoshi (Makinohara,
JP) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Henmi; Fumitoshi |
Makinohara |
N/A |
JP |
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Assignee: |
Yazaki Corporation (Tokyo,
JP)
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Family
ID: |
43707971 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/394,580 |
Filed: |
September 22, 2010 |
PCT
Filed: |
September 22, 2010 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/JP2010/067013 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
March 07, 2012 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2011/037268 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
March 31, 2011 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20120171908 A1 |
Jul 5, 2012 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Sep 24, 2009 [JP] |
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2009-219567 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/627; 439/504;
439/208 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01M
50/569 (20210101); H01M 50/522 (20210101); H01M
50/502 (20210101); H01M 50/51 (20210101); H01M
10/482 (20130101); H01M 50/20 (20210101); H01M
10/0525 (20130101); Y02E 60/10 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
24/00 (20110101) |
Field of
Search: |
;174/48,49,50,72A
;439/207-216,504,627 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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0986114 |
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Mar 2000 |
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EP |
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200495381 |
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Mar 2004 |
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JP |
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Other References
International Search Report (PCT/ISA/210) issued on Apr. 20, 2011
in the International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2010/067013.
cited by applicant .
Written Opinion (PCT/ISA/237) issued on Apr. 20, 2011 in the
International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2010/067013. cited by
applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Harvey; James
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Sughrue Mion, PLLC
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A wiring apparatus formed by a plastic molding and including a
wire housing portion, terminal housing chambers and wire extracting
portions, wherein the wire housing portion is provided with a
plurality of elongated housing grooves that respectively house
wires therein and that are disposed in parallel to each other, each
of the housing grooves is divided into one or more pieces in a
longitudinal direction, and adjacent end portions of each pair of
adjacent divided pieces of the housing groove are coupled by a
U-shaped elastic coupling member, each of the terminal housing
chambers houses a conductive metal plate for coupling a terminal of
a battery and a terminal of another battery adjacent thereto, and
the terminal housing chambers are separately disposed along the
longitudinal direction of the wire housing portion, and each pair
of the adjacent terminal housing chambers disposed separately is
coupled by a U-shaped elastic coupling member, and each of the wire
extracting portions is arranged to couple corresponding one of the
housing grooves and corresponding one of the terminal housing
chambers to thereby extract one of the wires to the corresponding
housing groove from the corresponding terminal housing chamber.
2. The wiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wire
housing portions are respectively provided with projections, each
of which acts to lock and prevent the wire housed in the respective
wire housing portions from being extruded therefrom.
3. The wiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the
U-shaped elastic coupling members for coupling the adjacent end
portions of each pair of adjacent divided pieces of the housing
groove is respective one of a vertical coupling member for coupling
upper end portions of the adjacent end portions and a horizontal
coupling member for coupling side end portions of the adjacent end
portions.
4. The wiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wire
housing portion is provided at a portion thereof to be coupled to a
connector with a hinge portion which is formed to be bent in a
W-shape having three bent portions when seen from a direction
crossing the wire housing portion.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a wiring apparatus used for an
electric vehicle mounting lithium ion batteries thereon
particularly and, in more detail, relates to a wiring apparatus
which is arranged to avoid the direct contact between wires and to
compensate the tolerance of a battery pitch and the design error of
a distance to a PCB (printed circuit board) assembly attached to
the side of a battery module from the battery module.
BACKGROUND ART
Wiring Apparatus Described in Patent Literature 1
A wiring apparatus for compensating a positional deviation between
a battery and an electronic part is known (see Patent Literature
1). The configuration described in Patent Literature 1 includes a
plate body mounted on batteries that are aligned, terminals that
are mounted on the plate body and couple the batteries with
electric components, and a cover for mounting the terminals on the
plate body, wherein each of the terminals is provided with a size
difference compensating portion for compensating the positional
deviation between the battery and the electronic component.
To be concrete, the size difference compensating portion is
configured by an elongated, substantially crank-shaped notch
portion which is extended from the one side surface of a
rectangular metal terminal along the one side surface and provided
with an elongated, substantially crank-shaped flexible leg portion
at the tip end of the notch portion.
<Merit of the Configuration Described in Patent Literature
1>
According to such the configuration, the positional deviation
between the battery and the electronic component provided adjacent
to the battery can be surely compensated by the bending operation
of the elongated flexible leg portion provided at the metal
terminal.
Further, since overcurrent prevention resistor elements adapted to
cope with an overcurrent generated from the battery are used as the
electronic components, the overcurrent prevention resistor elements
can detect an abnormality such as the overcurrent flowing from the
battery at the time of charging the battery or flowing the current
from the battery.
<Problems of the Configuration Described in Patent Literature
1>
The configuration described in Patent Literature 1 is effective for
a nickel-hydrogen battery. That is, in the case of the
nickel-hydrogen battery, since the voltage detection is required
only once for a plurality of the batteries, the required number of
the overcurrent prevention resistor elements is small. In contrast,
in the case of the lithium ion battery, the voltage detection is
required once for each of the battery cells. Thus, according to the
configuration described in Patent Literature 1, since the number of
times of using the overcurrent prevention resistor elements
increases, the cost of the apparatus increases.
Further, the configuration described in Patent Literature 1 can
compensate the positional deviation between the battery and the
electronic component provided adjacent to the battery, but can not
effectively compensate the tolerance of the battery pitch and the
design error of a distance to a PCB assembly attached to the side
of a battery module from the battery module.
Furthermore, voltage detection wires extracted from the batteries
are bound into a bundle, then the bound wires are wired and coupled
to a connector at the tip ends thereof. Thus, since the wires are
directly made in contact, there may arise a short-circuit between
the wires.
In this case, each of the wires is required to be covered by a
protection member such as a corrugate or a tube in order to prevent
the short-circuit, which results in the increase of the time and
labor. Further, the wires are bound into the bundle, so that there
arises a problem in a point of the maintenance since it is
difficult to quickly and accurately recognize as to which one of
the wires of the connector side is coupled to which one of the
batteries.
CITATION LIST
Patent Literature
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2004-95381
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Technical Problem
The present invention is made in order to solve the problems of the
related art and an object of the invention is to provide a wiring
apparatus which is arranged to be effective particularly in the
case where a lithium ion battery is used for the battery, to
compensate the tolerance of each battery pitch of a plurality of
batteries and the design error of a distance to a PCB assembly
attached to the side of a battery module from the battery module,
to avoid the direct contact between wires, to obviously recognize
the coupling relation between the wires on the connector side and
the batteries and to be suitable for performing the
maintenance.
Solution to Problem
In order to achieve the object, a first aspect of the present
invention provides a wiring apparatus formed by a plastic molding
and including a wire housing portion, terminal housing chambers and
wire extracting portions, wherein the wire housing portion is
provided with a plurality of elongated housing grooves that
respectively house wires therein and that are disposed in parallel
to each other, each of the housing grooves is divided at one or
more pieces in a longitudinal direction, and adjacent end portions
of each pair of adjacent divided pieces of the housing groove are
coupled by a U-shaped elastic coupling member, the terminal housing
chambers are arranged to each house a conductive metal plate for
coupling a terminal of a battery and a terminal of another battery
adjacent thereto, and to be disposed in a separate manner along the
longitudinal direction of the wire housing portion, and each pair
of the adjacent terminal housing chambers disposed separately is
coupled by a U-shaped elastic coupling member, and each of the wire
extracting portions is arranged to couple corresponding one of the
housing grooves and corresponding one of the terminal housing
chambers to thereby extract one of the wires to the corresponding
housing groove from the corresponding terminal housing chamber.
In a second aspect of the present invention, in the wiring
apparatus according to the first aspect, the wire housing portions
are respectively provided with projections, each of which acts to
lock and prevent the wire housed in the respective wire housing
portions from being extruded therefrom.
In a third aspect of the present invention, in the wiring apparatus
according to the first aspect, each of the U-shaped elastic
coupling members for coupling the adjacent end portions of each
pair of adjacent divided pieces of the housing groove is respective
one of a vertical coupling member for coupling upper end portions
of the adjacent end portions and a horizontal coupling member for
coupling side end portions of the adjacent end portions.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the wiring
apparatus according to the first aspect, the wire housing portion
is provided at a portion thereof to be coupled to a connector with
a hinge portion which is formed to be bent in a W-shape having
three bent portions when seen from a direction crossing the wire
housing portion.
Advantageous Effects of Invention
According to the first aspect, the elongated housing groove for
housing the wire therein is divided at one or more pieces and the
adjacent end portions of each pair of the adjacent divided pieces
of the housing groove are coupled by the U-shaped elastic coupling
member. Thus, even if there is a tolerance of the battery pitch,
the tolerance can be compensated by the shrink or expansion of the
U-shaped elastic coupling member. Accordingly, since a stress is
not applied to the voltage detection wire housing portions, the
strong voltage detection wire housing portions capable of
withstanding for a long term use can be obtained.
According to the second aspect, each of the wire housing portions
is provided therein with a projection, each of which acts to lock
and prevent the wire housed in the wire housing portion from being
extruded therefrom. Thus, the wire housed within the wire housing
portion is prevented from extruding from the housing groove
accidentally, so that the wires can be housed stably and so an
unexpected accident does not arise.
According to the third aspect, preferable one of the vertical
coupling member and the horizontal coupling member can be selected
in view of the circumferential state as the U-shaped elastic
coupling member for coupling the adjacent end portions.
According to the fourth aspect, the wire housing portion is
provided at the portion thereof to be coupled to the connector with
the hinge portion which is formed to be bent in the W-shape when
seen from the direction crossing the wire housing portion. Thus,
even if there is the tolerance of the battery pitch as to the
batteries or the design error of a distance between the battery and
the connector, such the tolerance and the design error can be
compensated. Further, since the attachment angle of the connector
can be changed, the attachment angle of the connector can be coped
flexibly.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a wiring apparatus according
to a first embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state where wires are wired in the
wiring apparatus of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where the wiring
apparatus of FIG. 2 is coupled to battery terminals.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a connector coupling portion
of a wiring apparatus according to a second embodiment of the
invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the connector coupling portion of
FIG. 4 seen from the upper direction.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state where the connector of
the second embodiment is attached to a PCB assembly.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
Hereinafter, the explanation will be made with reference to
drawings as to a wiring apparatus which is arranged to be effective
particularly in the case where a lithium ion battery is used for
battery, to compensate the tolerance of each battery pitch of a
plurality of the batteries and the design error of a distance to a
PCB assembly attached to the side of a battery module from the
battery module, to avoid the direct contact between wires, to
obviously recognize the coupling relation between the wires on the
connector side and the batteries and to be suitable for performing
the maintenance.
First Embodiment
<Configuration of Wiring Apparatus According to First
Embodiment>
A wiring apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment shown in FIG.
1 is entirely formed by a plastic molding and is configured by a
voltage detection wire housing portion 11, a terminal housing
chamber 12 for housing battery terminals, and voltage detection
wire extracting portions 13 for coupling the voltage detection wire
housing portion 11 with the terminal housing chamber 12.
Hereinafter, the explanation will be made as to the voltage
detection wire housing portion 11, the terminal housing chamber 12
and the voltage detection wire extracting portions 13 in this
order.
<Reason why Voltage Detection Wire Housing Portion 11 is
Necessary>
In the case where the lithium ion battery is used for battery,
according to the invention, instead of using an overcurrent
prevention resistor element for each of the cells of the lithium
ion batteries, a voltage detection wire is extracted for each of
the cells of the lithium ion batteries and coupled to a connector,
and the voltage detection wires are sequentially coupled to a
common voltage detection resistor element mounted on a printed
circuit via the connector in a time-sharing manner. Then, a current
flowing through the common voltage detection resistor element is
compared by a CPU to determine whether or not an overcurrent is
generated from the lithium ion batteries. According to such the
configuration, since it is not necessary to provide the overcurrent
prevention resistor element for each of the cells of the lithium
ion batteries, the total cost of the apparatus can be reduced.
In this case, the voltage detection wire is required for each of
the cells of the lithium ion batteries. Thus, in order to prevent
the short-circuit due to the mutual contact between the voltage
detection wires, it may become necessary to cover each of the
voltage detection wires by a protection member such as a corrugate
or a tube and further to bound and fix all the voltage detection
wires each thus covered by a tape or a band.
However, the present invention is arranged so as to eliminate such
the procedures of covering and binding the voltage detection wires
and to provide a voltage detection wire housing portion configured
in the following manner. As a consequence, it becomes unnecessary
to cover each of the voltage detection wires by the protection
member such as the corrugate or the tube and also unnecessary to
bound and fix all the voltage detection wires each thus covered by
the tape or the band.
<Configuration of Voltage Detection Wire Housing Portion
11>
In order to wire the voltage detection wires extracted from the
respective batteries to the connector 40 side in parallel from one
another without directly contacting to each other, the voltage
detection wire housing portion 11 is provided with a plurality of
wire housing grooves 111, 112, 113 which are disposed in parallel
to each other along the alignment of the batteries to the connector
40 from the respective batteries. Each of the wire housing grooves
111, 112, 113 is not arranged to be a straight continuous groove
extending from the corresponding battery to the connector 40 but is
arranged in a manner that each of the wire housing grooves is
divided at least once in corresponding to each battery. The upper
portions of the adjacent side walls in each of divided grooves 1D,
2D, 3D are coupled by a U-shaped elastic coupling member 11U.
To be concrete, a front side wall 1F and a rear side wall 1R
sandwiching the dividing groove 1D are coupled by a U-shaped
elastic coupling member 11U, a front side wall 2F and a rear side
wall 2R sandwiching the dividing groove 2D are coupled by another
U-shaped elastic coupling member 11U, and a front side wall 3F and
a rear side wall 3R sandwiching the dividing groove 2D are coupled
by another U-shaped elastic coupling member 11U.
<Modified Example of U-Shaped Elastic Coupling Member>
In the aforesaid explanation, the U-shaped elastic coupling member
11U for coupling the adjacent side walls of the dividing groove is
provided at the position for coupling the upper portions of the
adjacent side walls sandwiching the dividing groove 1D. However, at
a position where a dead space 1S is provided in the width
direction, it is preferable to provide a horizontal U-shaped
elastic coupling member 11H which couples the side surface portions
of the adjacent side walls of the dividing groove 1D as shown in
FIGS. 1 to 3.
<Effects of U-Shaped Elastic Coupling Members 11U, 11H>
In this manner, since each of the wire housing grooves 111, 112,
113 of the voltage detection wire housing portion 11 is divided at
least once in corresponding to each battery and the adjacent side
walls sandwiching each of the dividing grooves are coupled by the
U-shaped elastic coupling member 11U or 11H, each of the U-shaped
elastic coupling members forms "a battery pitch tolerance
compensation portion". Thus, even when there is a tolerance of a
battery pitch at each of the batteries, the tolerance can be
compensated by the shrink or expansion of the U-shaped elastic
coupling member 11U or 11H. As a result, since no stress is applied
to each of the portions 11, the strong voltage detection wire
housing portion 11 capable of withstanding for a long term use can
be obtained and so also the strong wiring apparatus 10 capable of
withstanding for a long term use can be obtained.
<Improvement of Voltage Detection Wire Housing Portion
11>
A projection (lock) 11T may be provided at the side wall of each of
the wire housing grooves 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 of the voltage
detection wire housing portion 11 so that the wires housed in each
of the wire housing grooves 111, 112, 113, 114 and 115 do not move
up from the groove. Each of the projections 11T is formed by a
tapered surface and a wall portion vertically extending from the
side wall and is provided in a manner that the tapered surface
protrudes downward from the side wall. Thus, the wire W can be
housed smoothly into the wire housing groove 111, for example,
whilst it becomes difficult to move up and extract the wire W thus
housed within the wire housing groove 111 due to the presence of
the vertically extended wall portion.
<Terminal Housing Chamber 12>
The terminal housing chamber 12 includes a first terminal housing
chamber 121, a second terminal housing chamber 122 and a third
terminal housing chamber 123 when seen from the connector 40 side
in the figure. Each of the terminal housing chambers 121, 122 and
123 has a box shape of which upper face is opened and of which
bottom portion is provided with a positive terminal hole 12P for
penetrating the positive terminal 1P of the battery therethrough
and a negative terminal hole 12N for penetrating the negative
terminal 1N of the adjacent battery therethrough. The positive
terminal 1P and the negative terminal 1N are coupled by a
conductive metal plate 16 (see FIG. 3) to thereby form a series
circuit of the battery and the adjacent battery. In the similar
manner, when the positive terminal and the negative terminal within
each of the remaining terminal housing chambers are coupled by the
corresponding conductive metal plate 16, a series circuit of all
the batteries is formed and so a high voltage DC voltage can be
obtained.
In the related art, the first terminal housing chamber 121 and the
second terminal housing chamber 122 are made in contact to each
other. In contrast, according to the first embodiment, the first
terminal housing chamber 121 and the second terminal housing
chamber 122 adjacent thereto are disposed with a predetermined
interval therebetween and are coupled by a U-shaped elastic
coupling member 12U to each other. Since the interval between the
first terminal housing chamber 121 and the second terminal housing
chamber 122 can be adjusted by the shrink or expansion of the
U-shaped elastic coupling member 12U, even if there is the
tolerance of the battery pitch, the tolerance can be compensated by
the U-shaped elastic coupling member 12U.
<Wire Extracting Portion 13>
In order to extract the voltage detection wire W for each cell of
the lithium ion batteries without contacting to any of the
remaining voltage detection wires W, the voltage detection wire
extracting portion 13 is provided between the voltage detection
wire housing portion 11 and the terminal housing chamber 12 and the
voltage detection wire W is disposed therein. The voltage detection
wire extracting portion 13 of the first terminal housing chamber
121 closest to the connector 40 side among the terminal housing
chambers 121, 122 and 123 is coupled to the wire housing groove 111
closest to the terminal housing chamber side among the wire housing
grooves 111, 112 and 123. The voltage detection wire extracting
portion 13 of the second terminal housing chamber 122 secondly
closest to the connector 40 side is coupled to the wire housing
groove 112 secondly closest to the terminal housing chamber side,
and the remaining wire extracting portions are respectively coupled
to the remaining wire housing grooves in the similar manner. Thus,
the voltage detection wires W can be respectively wired orderly
into the wire housing grooves from the terminal housing chambers
without crossing from one another.
<Wiring of Wires into Wiring Apparatus in FIG. 1>
When the wires are wired in the wiring apparatus shown in FIG. 1
thus configured, the wires are disposed as shown in the plan view
of FIG. 2. That is, the voltage detection wires W are respectively
housed into the wire housing grooves 111, 112 and 113 via the
voltage detection wire extracting portions 13 from the terminal
housing chambers 121, 122 and 123 in a manner that the voltage
detection wires are orderly wired to the connector 40 side along
the side walls of the respective grooves formed in parallel without
directly contacting to each other respectively. Thus, since it can
be recognized at a glance as to which one of the voltage detection
wires W of the connector 40 side is coupled to which one of the
batteries, the efficiency of the maintenance operation can be
improved. Further, even if there is the tolerance of the battery
pitch in one of the batteries, the tolerance can be compensated by
the U-shaped elastic coupling members 11U, 11H or 12U.
<Attachment of Wiring Apparatus of FIG. 2 to Battery>
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the wiring apparatus of FIG. 2
attached to the batteries.
In FIG. 3, the positive terminal 1P of the battery and the negative
terminal 1N of the adjacent battery are coupled by the conductive
metal plate 16. By repeating this coupling for all the batteries,
all the batteries are coupled in series. The voltage detection
wires W extracted from the terminal housing chamber 12 are
respectively entered into the voltage detection wire housing
portion 11 and then extended to the connector 40 side (FIG. 1)
without directly contacting to each other.
<Effects of Wiring Apparatus of FIG. 2>
As described above, according to the first embodiment, the
invention is effective in the case of the lithium ion batteries
particularly. That is, the generation of the overcurrent of the
batteries can be detected without coupling the overcurrent
prevention resistor element for each battery. Further, the
tolerance of the battery pitch can be compensated. Furthermore, it
is not necessary to cover each of the wires by a protection member
such as a corrugate or a tube and further it is also not necessary
to bound and fix all the voltage detection wires each thus covered
by a tape or a band. As a result, the invention can provide the
wiring apparatus suitable for performing the maintenance operation
in which the wires can be prevented from directly contacting to
each other and it can be recognized at a glance as to which one of
the voltage detection wires of the connector 40 side is coupled to
which one of the batteries.
Second Embodiment
<Configuration of Wiring Apparatus According to Second
Embodiment>
The feature of a second embodiment resides in that hinge portions
are provided, each of which can partition the voltage detection
wires W to each other so as not to directly contact mutually and
compensate the design error by the shrink or expansion thereof
while securing the insertion space of the connector on the coupling
portion side of the connector 40.
FIGS. 4 to 6 are diagrams for explaining the wiring apparatus
according to the second embodiment.
In FIGS. 4 and 5, there are shown the wiring apparatus 10 according
to the first embodiment, a wiring apparatus 20 according to the
second embodiment, a connector introducing portion 30 and the
connector 40. The wiring apparatus 20 according to the second
embodiment is configured in a manner that the entirety of a portion
having grooves 21 continuing to the voltage detection wire housing
portion 11 of the wiring apparatus 10 according to the first
embodiment includes the hinge portions 22 each of which is bent in
a W-shape. Since three bent portions of each of the W-shaped hinge
portions 22 can shrink and expand, the design error can be
compensated. In this embodiment, the W-shape indicates that each
hinge portion 22 merely has three bent portions as shown in FIG. 4
regardless of shape such as rounded or sharp shape, and does not
always mean that each top of the bent portions is sharp as the
character `W` shows.
<Merit of Wiring Apparatus According to Second
Embodiment>
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state where the voltage
detection wires W extracted from the respective batteries are
attached to a PCB assembly 50 via the apparatus according to the
first embodiment and the wiring apparatus 20 according to the
second embodiment by means of the connector 40. The voltage
detection wires W extracted to the voltage detection wire housing
portion 11 via the extracting ports from the terminal housing
chambers are extended to the connector 40 orderly in parallel to
each other without directly contacting therebetween. Even if there
is the tolerance of the battery pitch as to a plurality of the
batteries, such the tolerance of the battery pitch can be
compensated by the U-shaped elastic coupling members 11U, 11H and
12U of the first embodiment. Further, even if there is the design
error of the distance between the battery and the connector, such
the design error can be compensated by the W-shaped hinge portion
22 of the second embodiment.
Further, since the attachment angle of the connector 40 can be
changed by the W-shaped hinge portions 22, the attachment angle of
the connector 40 can be coped flexibly.
Further, according to the wiring apparatus thus configured, since
it can be recognized at a glance as to which one of the voltage
detection wires W on the connector 40 side is coupled to which one
of the batteries, the efficiency of the maintenance operation can
be improved.
Furthermore, according to the wiring apparatus thus configured, the
voltage detection wire W is extracted from each of the cells of the
lithium ion batteries and the voltage detection wires W are
sequentially coupled to the common voltage detection resistor
element mounted on the printed circuit via the connector in a
time-sharing manner. Then, the current flowing through the common
voltage detection resistor element is compared by the CPU to
determine whether or not an overcurrent is generated from the
lithium ion batteries. According to such the configuration, it
becomes possible to overcome the drawback (cost-up) of the
configuration described in Patent Literature 1 that the number of
the overcurrent prevention resistor elements is required to be same
as the number of the lithium ion batteries. In this case, however,
the voltage detection wire W is required for each of the cells of
the lithium ion batteries. Thus, in order to prevent the predicted
short-circuit due to the mutual contact between the voltage
detection wires W, it may become necessary to cover each of the
voltage detection wires W by the protection member such as a
corrugate or a tube and further to bound and fix all the voltage
detection wires each thus covered by a tape or a band. However, the
present invention can eliminate such the troublesome procedures by
employing the voltage detection wire housing portion configured in
the aforesaid manner. As a consequence, it becomes unnecessary to
cover each of the voltage detection wires by the protection member
such as a corrugate or a tube and also unnecessary to bound and fix
all the voltage detection wires each thus covered by a tape or a
band.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
10 wiring apparatus according to first embodiment 11 voltage
detection wire housing portion 11U U-shaped elastic coupling member
of dividing groove 1D 11H horizontal U-shaped elastic coupling
member of dividing groove 1D 11T projection (lock) 111, 112, 113
wire housing groove 12 terminal housing chamber 12U U-shaped
elastic coupling member between terminal housing chambers 13
voltage detection wire extracting portion 20 wiring apparatus
according to second embodiment 21 wire housing groove of wiring
apparatus according to second embodiment 22 hinge portion 30
connector introducing portion 40 connector 50 PCB assembly U
U-shaped elastic coupling member 1D, 2D, 3D dividing groove 1F
front side wall sandwiching dividing groove 1D 1R rear side wall
sandwiching dividing groove 1D
* * * * *